I smoked over a pack a day for 15 years and got really overweight. Now I'm an endurance junkie with lots of marathons, century rides, half and full ironmans, and ultramarathons under my belt. Check back often to watch the progress from smoking 26.2 cigarettes a day to running 26.2 miles, or from Iron Lung to Ironman.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ashtanga April

The swimming got a lot more consistent last month, which is good. but the volume just wasn't there on the bike or run. Come on, averaging 12 miles per bike ride? May 19th (16 days from now) I kick off the triathlon season with a 50 mile race containing a 44 mile bike ride. 12 mile base rides won't cut it. I should be averaging 30 miles per ride for May. Most of April was spent fighting a tendon problem in my left foot, which was really only a problem after running. So outside of the half marathon in the middle of the month the running was very sparse. The foot was hurting pretty good after walking all over the camp last saturday, so I'm not running much this week either to stay fresh for the 10k on saturday. April's weight training and yoga had a big impact overall, I certainly enjoy feeling much stronger with regular strength work, and that's really cool. I missed 5 scheduled yoga workouts and only 1 scheduled weight workout. I think I'm still on track to get my 300 days of yoga this year, having 96 sessions on the first third of the year. It's so close. I'll see if I can get to 150 by the end of June.

April's yoga also saw the rise into more of the Primary Series of my Ashtanga practice. I found some dvd's that more accurately explain the remainder of the poses and their sequence from the Primary Series. Previously I never really got much harder than the Sun Salutations A & B, which has nothing more difficult than a down dog. The standing poses get very challenging. I haven't even gotten into the sitting poses yet. I'm going to master moves like this before moving on:

and that's actually one of the easier standing poses. There's about 4 variations where your feet are spread far apart and the top of your head is on the ground in between said feet. It has lots of balance poses too, where you end up standing on one foot through consecutive poses for longer than I currently can stand on one foot. So I've got some work to go before I get into the seated poses. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

About Me

I am a sterotype living Raleigh, NC with the wife and 2 kids. 40+, endurance junkie with a penchant for marathons, trail, and triathlon races. It keeps me smoke free and happy. I also enjoy organic gardening and healthy eating, and work as a software developer.